"Many say that the MQM’s parting of ways with the PPP-led government spells doom for Karachi. The city has been the scene of what appear to be unstoppable targeted killings that have been carried out as a result of bitter rivalries amongst political parties and groups even as the MQM, the PPP and the ANP were part of the ruling coalition. Now with the MQM’s bowing out of government, it is conjectured that more trouble lies ahead unless, of course, better sense prevails and witch hunt or tit for tat tactics are not resorted to."

Hope Economist the esteemed magazine working for the betterment and peace in the world will publish my comments. The real problem of the subcontinent and most of the world has been vividly depicted in the dream which I had. Dreams do not come in correct grammar or diction esp not in alien language.

...........

don't know where you came from - But good satire about Pakistan. I enjoyed it.
Do you think Impassioned understand the meaning of Satire ?

Hope Economist the esteemed magazine working for the betterment and peace in the world will publish my comments. The real problem of the subcontinent and most of the world has been vividly depicted in the dream which I had. Dreams do not come in correct grammar or diction esp not in alien language, so pardon my Angrezi.

I had a dream ... not a dream but a nightmare

I had switched off the lights and was sleeping in the interior room of our haweli with my brothers, sisters and parents. Suddenly I lost the two balls which I always had. I started searching in the room for those balls in dark. Some thing.. I guess it was weird noise of thumping of a book made me come out of the haweli. There was this bearded old man in green (OMG) robe with a book in one hand and very old snake oil lantern in other. I had seen him entering our village a day before. OMG was a snake oil salesman by trade. He told me to start searching the balls under the oil lamp near his feet.

I - "but I lost the balls inside in the haweli. Please give me that lantern so that I can search the balls where they were lost"

OMG - "it does not matter, bend over and start searching under my feet."

I - "Why?"

OMG - Because the book in my hand says so.

I - what is this book?

OMG - this is divine God's book.

I - where does it say so?

OMG - you cannot understand so I need to read to you and make you understand.

Then OMG starts reading some lines in alien language. I do not understand a bit. OMG makes me bend over and search under his feet while he was reading those lines.

After a while he stops reading and tells me..

OMG - the book also says that if you search for your balls under my feet then not only you will get your lost balls but also get the balls of your brothers and fatrher's and even of your cousins and uncles who live in the next door. Imagine how rich and powerful you will be with so many balls. To get others balls you need to bring them to my feet and to bend over.

Now I forgot about my own lost balls and started desiring more and more of others balls. To bring others to his feet first I only thumped books but later I started forcefully bring my brothers and cousins. To wake more people and bring them to OMG's feet for bending over and searching balls one of my cousin came up with a great idea of using the Oil of OMG to set fire to the whole Mohalla. That is what we did! Whole mohalla and nearby neighborhood gutted in the fire. Now every one was bending over and searching the balls under the lamp which OMG only possessed. Long time passed...

Truly we had reached the nadir of bestiality and stupidity.

===

Wake up!

The alien book could be of 4th century, 7th century or 19th century. The bearded OM could have alien white, green or red (topi) garb.

Let me conjure up the predictable amusing scenario that would unravel when Taliban next hit Mumbai with RAW snoring in its rut.

the sequence....

1. Indian media will spring into action accusing the Pak government of being involved in the attacks.

2. Infantile Indian politicians would bark out threats to Pakistan fighting back tears, pandering to the low desires of jingoists in the Indian population..

3. The average Indian soldier will think "not again!!" as the poor guy is dragged to spend the next few months away from his family, twiddling his thumbs on the border with Pak.

4. Armaments, artillery and rest of the paraphernalia would be stacked on the border (although never used).

5. Indian premiers would go around their patented tours to Europe and USA calling on them to label Pak as a terrorist state (and that would not be transpiring).

6. People like LiveInhope and Hindukafir will spend roughly 15 hours a day for at least 6 months blogging on different sites calling for Pakistan to be destroyed and churning out long lists of threats what the Indians "will" do. Meanwhile the black hatred inside them eating away at their psychological and physical health and well-being and they being a part of the generally disenfranchised and discontent Indian population majority.

7. Pak politicians would merely smile in meetings at the hysterical and paranoid Indian reaction. It's business as usual.

8. USA will issue some "verbal" reprimand or mild warning to Pak "to do more".

9. Time will pass and Pakistan goes on. Indians miffed up and foaming at their mouths then learn to live with reality and would go into temporary hibernation.

10. Back to square one regarding Indian hollow threats and hot air....it's beginning to sound really funny to an average Pakistani which sees them as a hysterical bunch with just one thing dead-set in their Indian minds.

This is drama at its very best - a nation of a billion people completely obsessed about the existence of its neighbor. India Whining.

My my! My paranoid Indian friends are going in circles here chanting anti-Pak mantra! Well, the amount of time you spend analyzing and fretting about Pak, you merely demonstrate how insecure you feel inside about your neighbor that you spend tons of time recycling your peanuts on a blog. Hindukafir can drown his tears and sorrows and craving for borders to be redrawn but he really is out of touch with reality as he harks back to the time Hindus controlled the sub-continent....long gone, mate ;)

Let me tell you something. Despite any claims to the contrary, Indians DO NOT have the stomach for a nuclear fight. Pak has achieved military symmetry through nuclear capabilities. now, you can spout as much verbal diorrhea going around international blogs peeved at the very existence of Pakistan which has been eating you and your ancestors ever since '47, but nothing would happen. we have lots of problems but we keep on. Moreover, the average Pakistani is more happy with life than an average Indian according to an international Gallup survey. this brings home the point how terribly miserable the common man in India is as compared to their counterpart on the west :)

Also India knows it is alone. When it comes to blows India has to deliver the punches on its own, standing on its own feet. This is why India today looms large over those who are so habituated to alms and zakat that they think that an outside power will help to win a war

You conspire too much. You Fret too much and you worry too much. May be you should have a few drinks and try to get a good night sleep.

Let us say there is strike on Mumbai. I give you 3000 strikes with 3000 Mullas. Let us India and Pakistan go to war. Let us say All India metropolitan cities are nuked. Let us say Indians run over Pakistan after that. Let us say the border is erased

So what, it will be all like 1000 years back. You should worry if after all this will there be another Islamic saviour from the West in the 21st century. The answer is resounding no. WE all will become hindus.

But leaving rhetorical style aside, pleas tell me how your government will respond to a routine Taliban attack on another hotel/shrine/busy marketplace etc. inside India?

You know it's not such a big deal for the Taliban. They have 3000 sucide bombers lined up and uncountable ready and willing foot soldiers. Organizing another hit on India is about as difficult as doing a number back home. This is what I'm curious about. Will your country actually declare war on Pakistan?

@Liveinhope & indica, The reality is always unpleasant. Neither you nor I am Pakistani and should better not comment. When Pakistanis will understand the gravity of the situation only then we may expect a move in the positive direction. Till then we will be restricted on the page of Economist.

The image that goes with your accurate description is that of a man slowly sawing off his legs, crying in pain and at the same time pointing and shouting to the horrified and bemused onlookers that they are responsible for his misery.

If I were a Pakistani, I would be deeply concerned about the polarisation happening in my country on several fronts.

a) There is deep divisions within the army and ISI on dealings with the USA. Many core / corps commanders may WANT to retain good relations with the USA. They know their people are emotional and 'desperate' characters.

b) My head will be in a spin to think that my army and ISI are supporting one wing of the Taliban, while fighting another wing of the same Taliban. Head in a spin because my soldiers are getting killed by some Taliban while I am supplying lots of money and weapons to the cousins of those killers of my soldiers!!

c) The 'liberals' in my country are retreating while the radicals are advancing but the division between them is widening.

d) People who talk common sense and compassion are hiding in the basement of their fortified houses (Sherry Rehman), while people who advocate violence and blood shed (Hafiz Syed) are roaming around free.

I find your analysis highly credible, in terms of what I have read and know to be Pakistan's policies.

Your analysis uses concepts from the theory of decision-making - short-term goals emphasised at the expense of long term ones. I believe Salim Shahzad, the Pakistani journalist assassinated by the ISI had also expressed his concerns over how Pakistani leaders had not thought enough about the long term.

I have to agree with you on your second major point, that is, Pakistan may well be on the same road taken by North Korea, namely, use missiles and atomic weapons as instruments of black mail.

An editorial in DAWN, the Pak. paper alluded to this in another context, saying, (not an exact quote) "Pakistan is the only country in the world that gets its away by holding a gun to its own head - threatening to commit suicide."

Your third point that the USA may have already taken measures to counter Pakistan's nuclear black mail is also supported by some facts (the European anti-missile defence) and some informed speculation.

After finding OBL living openly in Abbottabad and after finding clear evidence that the ISI helped him and his three wives and children in their daily lives, it makes sense if the USA has already started planning measures against Pakistan.

USA's policies towards Pakistan will change radically as soon as Afghanistan is stabilised or if Pakistan continues with her 'double game'.

USA is close to reaching an openly hostile posture towards Pakistan.

November

'Suction power', whether selling vacuum cleaners or working out what is going on in international relations is one of a kind.

The Pakistanis who post on this Blog have very little understanding of what is really happening - or how near to bankruptsy Pakistan is.

What they don't understand is that Finance determines the fate of a nation .

At the moment they staved off Bankruptsy because America put pressure on the I.M.F and also on Europe - The IMF relaxed their rules for lending money, and Europe dropped off their tariffs for Pakistani rags ( Clothing)

They can continue to tell lies to the USA - and no matter what the President wants to do, Both the Democrats and the Republicans will respond to their voters , and take away all the aid from Pakistan.

At some point in time in the near future, Pakistan will have to start taking the North Korean road - Blackmail the West just so it can feed it's people. The blackmail will be the Nuclear arms that Pakistan possesses.

Remember that Pakistan, after the Mumbai attack threatened to use their Nukes if India attacked.

And then you look at what is happening with the US Missile defence system - and how they are setting up Defence system in Eastern Europe aginst 'Possible Iranian Nukes' , and THEN we measure the distance that these Missiles go to blow away an armed missile, and HEY Presto - Pakistani Nukes are within their range. Interesting eh ???

Pakistan has no idea, how behind the technological times they are.
They have no understanding that short and long term planning is extremely important for the countries future.

All they have understood is short term strategy ( How to get away with telling lies to their freinds - or how to deny the truth to fob off your enemies, or how stupid a strategy of terrorism sponsorship is)
Looking at Pakistan's internal and external policy structure - they are all based on army type decision making... For example - Keep Osama-Bin-Laden in hiding, under our guardianship (short term stratgy) Don't worry - USA will never find out, because Osama is right in the middle of our army encampments ( Long Term strategy failure)..

No-One ever thought of what would happen if this strategy failed, because armies only think about winning the next battle - For them the war never ends, so they don't care about winning the war.

This relationship has really been broken by the Army, to favour it's short term strategy - and the strategy was to win Afghanistan for their Taliban.
I remeber, about two years ago , America took away the choice from Pakistan on how the aid was allocated ( Army versus Civilian) and instead gave the army some equipment, more designed to fight the Taliban( Gunship Helicopters agaist Jet fighters)

AND I also rember that the army whipped a lot of anti amrrican fervour about this - not understanding how it would be detrim ental to the country.)

Once you start anti-amricanism, Don't expect the politicians to be blind in the USA. They will NOT be able to justify helping Pakistan in any way at all, in the future.

EVENTUALLY - The only road left for Pakistan , to get financial help, is the Blackmail road - the road to North Korea. And America has already planned for this - it has set up a defence missile system in Europe to counter any Nuke Missiles fired off by the Paks.

Eventually they would not let down their freinds - the people who are stable, dependable, and trustworthy... and also a possible balance to the Bullying habits of China ( No prize for guessing who that may be)

a) it is not good for India to see Pakistan gaining control of Afghanistan, via the Taliban, once the Americans leave, if they do, totally!!

b) it is not good for middle-class, progressive Afghans to see Pakistan manipulate their country via wild men wielding Chinese weapons

c) it is not good for China, her copper-mine projects and so on, for a Taliban government in Kabul that works in tandem with ISI and the Pak. army.

d) it is not good for the West that they should continue to rely on Pakistan's ISI and army to keep track of world terrorists who go to the Af-Pak region for 'training' - in order to bomb and kill in Western countries.

Eventually, the West has to come up with a different strategy that would involve India a lot more to counter the 'double game' that Pakistan's ISI and army have been playing.